1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rental service method, apparatus and system for a construction machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Construction machines such as hydraulic excavators used in a work site for construction are greatly different in necessary kind of machines or specification according to the kinds of work. Accordingly, it is more economical to rent construction machines from rental companies rather than purchasing them. Therefore, recently, rental service of construction machines has been rapidly prevailed.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a flow of construction machines for rent. In the figure, a rental company (including affiliated companies thereof) R purchases and owns construction machines m1, m2 and m3 from a plurality of construction machine manufacturers M1, M2 and M3 in order to serve wide needs of a construction company U as end user. Thereby, a so-called group rental is constituted. Suppose that the construction company U selects, for rent, for example, the construction machine m1 made of M1 out of a plurality of construction machines from the rental company R. The president u0 of the construction company U causes operators u11, u12 and u13 to operate the construction machine m1 at the spot through a site foreman (a supervisor) u1. On the other hand, the construction company U pays a rental fee c of the construction machine m1 to the rental company R.
In this case, it is difficult for the rental company R to grasp accurately how the construction machine m1 is operated. Therefore, the rental fee c has been set according to a rental period of the construction machine m1. For example, in a case of a hydraulic excavator of 20-ton class, if the fee is set to ¥20,000/day, the rental fee for 10 days will be ¥20,000×10 days=¥200,000.
However, it cannot be denied to be unfair that even if the machine m1 is rarely operated or fully operated, the same rental fee c is charged. On the other hand, the machine m1 gradually becomes consumed due to its continuous operation, and finally lifetime of the machine m1 ends. The rental company R is to purchase a new construction machine m1 from the construction machine maker M1. Normally, the lifetime depends on the operating state of the machine m1. Accordingly, it is contemplated that the rental company gives back any profits to the construction company U in consideration of the lifetime difference of the machine m1. However, in the existing rental method, unfair feeling regarding the rental fee is not yet overcome. Therefore, it was difficult to create motivation that a person who has authorization to select a construction machine to be rented (a site foreman u1) wants to select that construction machine at any cost.